Boston is definitely tough act to follow, but there are still a lot of fun races out there, and many more challenges I’d like to tackle. Next up for me are the SF and ET half marathons, both of which Ive done before , but want to do again…. each for different reasons.

The San Francisco marathon choice was pretty much a no brainer for me. Not because of its a very challenging and beautiful course, or the fact that the race is held in one of the most fascinating cities in the world, but mainly because it was the very first race I ever did. It was the race that started it all for me. Its also one of the few races I don’t have to hop on an airplane to get to…lol. Having done this race 4 times already, it’s kinda like comfort food for me. I’m totally at ease with it. No pre-race stress, don’t have to arrive 3 hours early. I know every twist and turn in the course and I know that after I finish the race, I can be home in less than 20 minutes.

Another reason I want to do this race again, is to see if I still have what it takes. In 2007, I walked my fastest half marathon to date( 2:50 ). I’m not expecting anything close to that this time around, as my lungs are pure crap now, but it sure would help my psyche if I could even pull off a 3 hour half marathon just one more time.

On the downside though,the overall organization of the event has deteriorated over the years. The Expo is way out in the boonies now, and the post race food is a total joke. Considering the high registration fees, you’d think they could do a lot better.If it weren’t for the above reasons, Id probably skip this race . In my opinion,there are much better marathons out there for walkers.
If you decide to do this race, do it for the views and the hills, not for the royal treatment, unless you’re an elite runner.

Here’s a picture of me(in long pants no less), crossing the finish at my very first SF half marathon in 2005. The feeling of accomplishment for finishing that race was as intense as finishing my first Portland or even Boston race.

Next on my list, and only two weeks after the SF marathon, is the ET midnight marathon. Forget about PR’ing here,this one you do for the adventure.

I wanna do this one again, because last year I couldn’t fully appreciate how special an event it actually is. I was sick as a dog from dehydration and heat stroke. Not from doing the race, but rather from poor trip planning on my part, and from spending way too much time in the Las Vegas heat in the hours preceding the race. I shouldn’t have started the race at all the way I was feeling, but I had come all that way and I didn’t want to miss out. I finished the race, but it took me 4 full hours to do it and I damn near killed myself in the process. If there was anytime that I needed an IV for hydration, it was then. I was so dehydrated I was starting to get delirious. Judging from my symptoms, it’s a miracle I didn’t go into full blown shock.

But, despite all the bad things that were happening to my body, I still remember how incredibly beautiful and how eerily quite the desert was. There was a full moon that night, and the way the scenery was lit, it felt like we were walking up the side of a huge crater on the moon or something. It was very cool.

This race is like no other Ive ever done. Kudos to race organizer, Joyce, for putting this thing together. For starters there are only about 300-500 participants, and just getting to the starting line is a major feat ( a 3 hr bus ride from Las Vegas). One thing that stands out in my mind, is the sheer vastness of the open desert. The stillness and the sense of loneliness of being out in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night, is very surreal. You’re imagination runs wild!
Of course you’re not totally alone out there, occasionally a group of runners or a single car will pass you by, but in between those welcome distractions, it’s so quiet out there you could here a pin drop. You can actually hear yourself breathing! The other thing that I love about this event, is the special post race breakfast. Talk about UFOS, the post race food and activities are out of this world! Were talking a full country breakfast ,pretty much cooked to order in this really odd coffee shop//motel/UFO gift store, called the Lil’ale Inn located at the finish line in a town called Rachel, Nevada.
Here’s a photo of the actual course and the mountain range that you descend from. The finish line is near those buildings on the left.

• leonard cohen-songs of love hate download

This time around I plan to do a much better job of preparing myself physically for the special needs of the desert climate, so that I can enjoy the race and take in all the little things that I missed last year. I’ll also be driving out to the race site instead of taking the marathon bus. And new for this year, they’ve added a 51K race ! Get it? “Area 51″ “51K race”. OK you ultrathoners..

Here’s a picture of my friends and I finishing the race in 2008

The Nevada experience will be doubly exciting this year, because on the very same evening of the ET race, I also have a front row seat to see the Man at the Las Vegas Hilton. Getting out to the race site immediately after Barrys show is going to be an adventure in itself, but never fear….I have a plan. More about that in the future post.

Last but not least, though I haven’t decided the exact date or location, I want to do another one of Dave Mc Governs racewalking clinics. They are so much fun and worth every penny of the $175.00 fee. I haven’t done one for a couple years now and I could really use a good review and critique on my racewalking skills ( or lack of). He puts on a clinic for his advanced students in Southern California in October, which Id like to do, but I’m not sure yet, as the Portland, San Jose R&R, and Boston half marathons are all happening that month.

This past week my partner has been on vacation , which is the only time we really get to spend with each other. We really don’t venture too far from home , because he hates to to travel, so we’ll do a lot of things locally. One of his/our favorite things to do, is browse through vintage and alternative clothing stores. There are several scattered throughout the city. The Haight and upper Market street have some of the best. They’re basically high-end thrift stores that specialize in clothing and shoes from the 70’s ,80’s and 90’s ,as well as current fashions you’d find in European countries. Sometimes you can find really cool, one- of- a kind items. Another thing we like to do, is drive up along the coast , just above San Francisco ,stopping at different Antique stores along the way. We’ll usually make a whole day of it and then loop back down to the city where we’ll spend the late afternoon roaming the financial district or the waterfront. Nothing better on a cool spring evening, than grabbing a burger at Taylors Refresher on the Embarcadero and watching the people go by. When dusk approaches we’ll race over the hill to Ocean beach to watch the sunset. Yeah, it’s a tough job, but someones gotta do it!

I think this is the first time in 4 years, that Ive gone an entire month without working out or training for…. something. And you know what? I can’t say that I’m missing it all that much. Of course, I’m still doing my routine 5 mile walks 3 or 4 days a week, but I haven’t done any long distance walks or spent a single day in the gym since the Boston marathon. My metabolism has slowed so much in fact, that Ive actually gained 5 lbs.

Is this withdrawal from exercise a trend? Not really. It’s more of a self-imposed temporary disconnect from anything related to heavy “training”. The Boston and Rome marathon trips took a lot out of me, and that little side trip to Mass General didn’t help matters. My lung function hasn’t been that great lately and Ive also been having a lot muscle weakness and pain in both my legs and my arms, so I think I owe it to my body , to cool it for awhile. It’s almost summer anyways, and there’s nothing really happening on the race scene until late July. I’ll start gradually ramping back up in a week or so for the SF marathon.

With all this spare time, I finally got a chance to frame and mount some of my favorite race photos ,which have been sitting in a pile in my closet for the past 3 years. I’m slowly turning the guest bedroom into my personal trophy room. That’s right, if you stay at my house, you’ll be forced to look all my race memorabilia… lol

combivent inhalers hgh uk euro

I sometimes jokingly claim that Ive inhaled more bronchodialators(asthma medicine), than any living person! Well, after doing some rough calculations , that claim might not be as far fetched as it sounds.

This past week I had a lot downtime due to crappy breathing , so I thought it might be a fun diversion to sit down and try to figure out how much Albuterol Ive inhaled over my life time.
For the sake of simplicity, and the fact that Albuterol ,has only been around about 25 years, I decided to include ALL the inhaled bronchodialator medicines that Ive taken. The results of course ,will be a rough estimate.

OK, assuming that Ive been using inhalers for appx 45 years , and assuming that I was taking just the minimum recommended dose of 1-2 puffs 4 x day. That works out to 131,400 hits off the inhalers.
The math ( 8 puffs per day x 365 days x 45 years= 131,400 puffs).

But wait , that’s just the beginning. Now, lets add in all the Albuterol Ive inhaled in the nebulized form and we’ll convert that number into the equivalent number of inhaler puffs.
For calculation purposes, I will use the generally accepted formula, of one unit dose of Albuterol solution, equaling 4 puffs of Albuterol from an inhaler taken with a spacer. ( without a spacer, it would be more like 8 puffs)

Since Ive been taking neb treatments 4 times per day on a regular basis for about 10 years, that would equate to a whopping 87,600 inhaler puffs!
The math. (1 neb treatment = 4 puffs albuterol x 6 times per day x 356 days x 10 years = 87,600 puffs!)

Lets not forget about all the continuous nebs Ive been on while hospitalized during those same 10 years. I’ll use a conservative figure of 2 hospitalizations per year and a figure of 72 hours of continuous nebs per hospitalization. I’ll also calculate the average dose of Albuterol at 10 mg/hr (very conservative, as I’m usually on 20mg or more per hours) We’ll also assume that we are using the standard 5% solution.
The math ( 10mg per hour of continuously nebulized albuterol, is the equivalent of taking 144 individual neb treatments in a 72 hour period. 144 neb treatments x twice a year = 288 neb treatments x 10 years = 2880 neb treatments.
2880 neb treatments is the equivalent of 11,520 puffs from an inhaler!)

So, we have, 131,400 + 87,600+ 11,520 for grand total of 230,520 or roughly a quarter of a million hits off an inhaler !
Just to put this into perspective, there are about 100 actuations or puffs in a single inhaler, which means Ive gone through the equivalent of 2300 inhalers.
2,300 inhalers divided by 50 years = 46 inhalers per year ( starting at the age of 4) That’s just a little less than one inhaler per week over the course of my entire life. That’s a lot of inhalers! It’s amazing I don’t glow in the dark or something.

Meet another amazing walking friend of mine, Melvin.

On Saturday May 16th, Mel completed his 1000th round trip walk across the Al Zampa bridge in Crockett,California . To celebrate his amazing achievement, about 100 of his friends and admirers, many of whom actually met Mel while walking along the bridge, gathered to take that historic 1,000th walk with him. He is the only who has walked this span more times than I have .

The bridge itself is just over one mile in each direction. Mel estimates that in total, he’s logged more than 2500 miles in the course of those 1000 walks.

I walked ahead of the group to the vista point on the Vallejo side of the bridge and caught this picture of Mel and some of his entourage still mid-span. Mel doesn’t racewalk, but it would sure be something if he did.

Oh….don’t know if you caught this on Mel’s jacket…., but he turned 81 years , 4 month and 13 days old on the date of this 1000th crossing. It was also his wifes 80th birthday , who by the way, does every walk with him.

You’re probably getting sick of hearing about the Boston marathon, but here’s a few more photos . These were taken mostly after mile 18… and it sure shows on my face.
They’re high resolution photos and were bogging down this page, so I moved them over to Picasa. You can still enlarge them , but not like before.

gnc detox drug effexor

To say I’m worn out by the frantic pace of these last 3 months, would be an understatement. Going from the highest highs to the lowest lows, and everything in between, I’m flat out exhausted! I need a couple weeks of doing nothing overly physical , so that I can recharge my batteries and start all over again.

After last months flare-up, my lung function is gradually returning to baseline, but all those outdoor allergies have been kicking my butt. Ive even considered going back on Xolair. It didn’t do much for my asthma, but I think it helped with my allergy problem.

Of course, I’ve still been doing my 5 mile bridge walks 3x week. Nothing could stop me from doing those, it’s the only chance I get to racewalk, but that’s about it, as far as exercise goes. Ive been occupying most of my time, catching up with my blog reading, doing things around the house, and dealing with various media requests regarding my participation in the marathon. Earlier this week I gave an interview to a person who wants to write about me in her next motivational book.

This Saturday I’ll be out at the Al Zampa Memorial bridge in Crockett, Calif, to celebrate a friend and fitness walkers 1000th crossing of that bridge. That day will also mark my 800th crossing of the same bridge. I’ll write more about it next week!

Next race for me is the San Francisco Marathon ( 1/2 marathon–2nd half) . Finally, a world class event I don’t have to fly to

Have nice weekend all!

torsades and pointes depakote de